
Class _U\JiS5_ 

BookJAsa 

Copyright N°„ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



MARANATHA. 



B V 

REV. E. P. MARVIN, 

Author of "History of Redemption," "Ecclesiastical 
Amusements," Etc. 



"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be 
Anathema, Maranatha." — I Cor. 16:22. 



- — — li'M'i .'- i 



CLOTH, 40 pts. 3 Papsr,, sopts, \ , 



PICKETT PUBLISHING CO., 

Louisville, Ky. Greenville, Tex. 

1432 Franklin Street, St. Louis, Mo. 



-■"H"^ 

^^1 



J HE. LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

M 22 1903 

(\ Copyright Entry 
CLASS CO XXc. No. 

s^ -7 a ° 

COPY B. 



Copyright 1902 by 
Pickett Publishing Co. 



t (. I '• t l t c 



« « « « 

t «• *• *' 

1 I 1 * 



11 , tl ; V l ' C ' t*"t «°* 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 
The Importance of the Subject 5 

CHAPTER II. 
The Lord's Coming Premillennial 17 

CHAPTER III. 
Signs of His Near Coming . 30 

CHAPTER IV. 
Objections to the Doctrine 42 

CHAPTER V. 
Why It Should Be Faithfully Preached. . 51 

CHAPTER VI. 
Final Appeal 65 

The Blessed Hope 83 



• 



MARANATHA. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT. 

We make much of the Blessed Hope of 
the Lord's Coming because of its transcend- 
ent importance. As His First Coming was 
the great and blessed hope of the old Dis- 
pensation, His second coming is the great 
and blessed hope of the New. 

What a marvelous contrast! He came 
first as a gentle lamb. He will come again 
as a royal Lion; first as a suffering Saviour, 
next as a reigning Saviour. He came first 
to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, 
next without a sin offering unto triumphant 
salvation. He came first as a "Man of Sor- 



6 Maranatha. 

rows" overpowered and brought to a rob- 
ber's cross; next as 

"A mighty Conqueror, 
Who spoiled the powers below, 
And ransomed many captives 
From everlasting" woe." 

He came first as an accused convict at 
Pilate's bar, next as an awful Judge; first 
as a mild light to lighten the Gentiles, next 
in flaming vengeance fire; first as the lowly 
Son of man, next as the imperial Son of 
God. Man gave Him a cruel crown of 
thorns; God will give Him a royal crown of 
Glory. Man gave Him a gory Cross; God 
will give Him a divine Throne. This ex- 
altation will be a fitting reward for His low- 
ly and sacrificial obedience. 

The chief end of God in all the dispensa- 
tions of redemption is the exaltation of His 
Son with His fellow-heirs, His Bride, in 
visible majesty and glory in the New Crea- 
tion. 

I am profoundly convinced that the Lord's 
Coming, with its close prophetic correla- 



The Importance of the Subject 7 

tives, is becoming more and more the doc- 
trine of a standing or a falling Church. The 
Church under Constantine, assuming the 
Kingdom form, and grasping for the wealth 
and empire of the world, in the absence of 
its rightful Potentate, brought in the great- 
est apostasy of the ages. 

All Scripture is given by inspiration and 
is profitable, but some truths derive special 
and extraordinary importance because of 
"the times and seasons." Upon these sea- 
sonable and special truths the Holy Spirit 
lays special emphasis from age to age. 

When dispensations are about to close 
God sends men like Noah and John the 
Baptist to herald the change with timely 
appeals. 

Now, as the present dispensation is clos- 
ing, and a great epoch is at hand, Marana- 
tha— The Lord Cometh! is the timely 
Watch-cry for the Church and the world. 
Never before has so much clear light been 
thrown upon eschatology , correcting former 
mistakes and testing the souls of men. 



8 Maranatha. 

Leaders who shut their eyes to this light 
will suffer loss in their spiritual life and 
service, and they have reason to fear the 
Coming of the Lord. Men must have light 
and walk in it, or lightning and fall be- 
fore it. 

The Church turning away from the 
blessed and purifying hope of the Lord's 
Coming, is becoming the nexus of a confed- 
eration of social and dramatic clubs, a 
house of merchandise and a bureau of 
amusements, in competition with the world. 
The oyster, the strawberry and ice cream, 
are employed as indispensable to the life of 
the Church. Gay and giddy butterfly 
saints seem to join it for fun in this life 
and insurance for the life to come. They 
seem to expect the Church to be a merry- 
go round of juvenile dramatics, a purveyor 
of vaudeville, and they would like to have 
Christianity set to music and dancing. 

This culinary clatter and dramatic razzle- 
dazzle, called "Church Work," is worse 
than sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. 



The Importance of the Subject. 9 

The leaders are chiefly to blame for this 
untimely frivolity, and serious times are 
rapidly coming. Churches should be fast- 
ing, confessing and praying. 

Thus comes in the apostasy of the "Insti- 
tutional Church," in which the body is mar- 
ried and keeps house with the world in the 
Broad way. Formalism increases, celebra- 
tions and holidays multiply, wealth and so- 
cial functions are worshipped, spiritual life 
declines, conversions diminish, debts for 
proud temples increase, but boasting pre- 
vails galore. How different from the word. 
Rom. 12:1,2. Whenever the Church ceases 
to be the expectant Bride of Christ she be- 
comes the harlot of the world. 

"And they of the Church and they of the world, 

Walked closely hand and heart, 
And none but the Master who knoweth all, 

Could tell the two apart. 
Thus her witnessing power, alas, was lost, 

And the perilous times came in; 
The times of the end, so often foretold, 

Of form, and pleasure and sin." 



10 Maranatha. 

All intelligent and spiritual Christians 
behold this scene with unspeakable sorrow 
but many are cheered by these signs of the 
near coming of the Lord. 

It is a gigantic absurdity to try to recon- 
cile this unbelief and worldliness with 
Christianity. We should all know that the 
popular religion of the day is not the Chris- 
tianity of Christ. The world well knows it. 
Its votaries ought to discover, like a monk 
of the sixteenth century in reading the 
New Testament, "Either this is not the 
Bible or we are not Christians." Paul 
prophesies of this defection in 2 Tim. 3:1-5, 
and it is increasing with accelerated veloc- 
ity, especially in the larger and wealthier 
churches. 

Now let me assert with emphasis that one 
leading cause of this defection and worldli- 
ness is the desire and saying of the evil 
servant, "My Lord delayeth His coming. " 

As this "Blessed Hope" wanes in the 
Church, unbelief and worldliness will pre- 
vail. Men will try to keep one hand on the 



The Importance of the Subject. 11 

world and the other on Christ. When the 
Church keeps a sacred bridal heart she is 
blessed and made a blessing to the world. 
Matt. 24:48-51. 

More and more is the sad saying true 
where this doctrine is neglected or rejected, 
that * 'We look for the Church and find it in 
the world, and we look for the world and 
find it in the Church." The faithful 
preaching of a quickly-coming Lord, will 
call out the Bride and hasten the coming of 
the Bridegroom. Matt. 24:14. The prophe- 
cies of the coming King and Kingdom fur- 
nish our light for the last days. 

The spiritualizing and allegorizing of 
Scripture, and especially the interpreting 
of it by way of "accommodation," has done 
much to impair and confuse it as a positive 
and reliable testimony. It is apt to make 
the Bible like a fiddle on which you can 
play any tune you please. 

All along, the post-millennial Church has 
been promising to convert the world and 
bring in the Millennium, the Golden Age. 



12 Maranatha. 

It has not done it. It has made too big a 
-contract, and it cannot deliver the goods. 
Hence many men of the 'world lose con- 
fidence in the Church, and even in the Bible 
itself, and turn away to wild schemes of 
sociology and reform. 

Besides this, when the world does not 
come to the Church according to this fond 
theory of taking the world for Christ, how 
many Churches imitate Mohammed, who 
went to the mountain, when the mountain 
would not come to him. Alas, how many 
popular churches the world has thus con- 
verted. 

Prophecy is a head-light and not a stern- 
light, shining through the window of rev- 
elation like a sunbeam through Venetian 
crystal. Through prophecy it is given us 
to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. Matt. 13:11. Not to know proph- 
ecy is to be always a child, and progress 
without this head-light is like speed in a 
blind horse. 1 Chron. 12:32. 

The Christian dispensation is an elective 



The Importance of the Subject 13 

age throughout, and it is a signal fact that 
from the great professing Church a choice 
elective class is being drawn out and to- 
gether by the Spirit to hopes and services 
specially relating to the Coming of the 
Lord and the end of the age. While the 
great nominal Church flaunts its banners 
and proudly boasts of numbers and the con- 
quests of the world, this inner circle hum- 
bly aud sweetly sings, while earnestly en- 
gaged in soul-winning work, 

"Are you ready for the Bridegroom, 
When He comes, when He comes?" 

This special out- calling is the Spirit's lat- 
ter-day work, and it will continue till the 
end. These "Little Flocks" gather to the 
Name of Jesus, ignoring petty denomina- 
tional differences in fellowship and work, 
and they will enter the Kingdom through 
the chastening earnest of the Great Tribu- 
lation. They have more to do with crosses 
than crowns now, and they are separated 
from the world both inside and outside of 
the Church. 



14 Maranatha. , 

The "Blessed Hope" of the Lord's Com- 
ing grows in importance as we near the end 
of the age and see the day approaching. 
The neglect of prophecy and of watchful- 
ness for the Lord is one great cause of the 
general defection of the Church of Christen- 
dom to-day. The Jews were reproved for 
not discerning the prophetic signs of the 
times, and this neglect led to apostasy 
and the rejection of their Messiah. Matt. 
16:2,3. 

How vain and unscriptural to boast of the 
great numbers in this worldly drift, as if 
the voice of the people were the voice of 
God, and the thronged way were the way to 
heaven. Beware of smart ecclesiastics who 
try to bulge the "needle's eye" and broaden 
God's * 'narrow way. " Beware of those who 
tell us that "the doubters are the best men 
we have," and by inference that "the unco 
orthodox" are the worst. Beware of those 
who proudly teach "the universal Fath- 
erhood of God and brotherhood of man." 
Matt. 7:13,14; John 1:12. 



The Importance of the Subject. 15 

The seasonable antidote for this unbelief, 
pride, frivolity and worldliness, and the 
stimulus to faith, holiness and missionary- 
effort, is the now crescent doctrine of the 
near Coming of the Lord, with its^ practical 
connections. The fore-gleams of our pole- 
star of hope pierce the confusing clouds 
around us, disclose the divine program, and 
open up before us a shining way. Anchor 
your faith to the impregnable, immovable 
rock of divine truth, hitch your chariot to 
this pole-star of hope, and you will soon 
see which way the world is drifting, and 
what your commanding duty is. 

Maranatha! is the watch-cry of the times. 

It is the supreme appeal for separation, 

holiness and missionary effort. Christ, the 

Receiver of this bankrupt world, is coming 

soon to settle up its affairs. A great epoch 

is at hand. The Church should wake up, 

sober up and be ready. 

O, Church of Christ, redeemed by precious blood, 
1 Pet. 1 :18,19. Eph. 5:25-27. Eph. 3:10. 

Break this alliance, glorify your God! 
1 Cor. 6:20. 2 Cor. 6 :14-18. Eph. 3:21. 



16 Maranatha. 

Forsake the Christless world that lures to ill; 
Rom. 12:2. Heb. 13:13. Rev. 18:4. 

Thou mayest be blest and prove a blessing still* 
Gen. 12:2. Ps. 128:5. Eph. 1:3. 

Away with ease and dalliance and play, 
Isa. 32:9. 1 Cor. 10:7. Rom. 13:11. 

The Great Commission now in haste obey; 
Mark 16:15. John 17:18. 2 Tim. 4:1,2. 

In holiness and zeal thou canst excel, 
1 Pet. 1:15,16. Rev. 3:19. Gal. 4:13. 

And save the perishing* from sin and hell. 
Luke 14:23. Jas. 5:19,20. Jude 22,23. 

Gird on thy robes with purity impearled, 
Rev. 7:14. Rev. 16:15. Rev. 19:8. 

And keep thyself unspotted from the world. 
Jas. 1:27. Uno. 3:3. 1 Tim. 5:22. 

Humbled in dust and ashes, sin no more; 
Isa. 60:1. 1 Cor. 15:34. Jno.5:14. 

Repent while Christ stands knocking at the door. 
Rev. 3:20. Jas. 5:9. Rev. 2:16. 

O, let thy heart be true to Him alone, 
Jas. 4:4. 1 Jno. 2:15,16. Jno. 21:15. 

For lo! the Heavenly Bridegroom cometh soon I 
Matt. 25:6. Rev. 3 ill. Rev. 22:20. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE LORD'S COMING PREMILLENNIAL. 

It is the general belief of the Church that 
the Lord Jesus Christ will come again, 
personally and visibly, as He ascended. 
Those who carefully and candidly study 
the Word also know that the promises of 
this advent do not refer to the descent of 
the Holy Spirit, the destruction of Jerusa- 
lem, nor to death. 

Christ promised another Comforter, not 
Himself. In no proper sense did Christ 
come when Titus overthrew Jerusalem, or 
at Pentecost. Indeed, many promises in 
Revelation were written nearly thirty years 
after these two events occurred. Death 
stands in stronger contrast with the Lord's 
Coming than any two prophetic events in 
scripture. Let us then dismiss these ficti- 
tious interpretations and remember that 
2 



18 Maranatha. 

when Christ promises to come back again, 
He means just what He says, and says just 
what He means. 

Now some good Christian people and 
teachers of the Word believe that this ad- 
vent will occur after the millennium, and 
others before. The only true way of set- 
tling this "Post" and "Pre" question is by 
a correct exegesis of the Word, especially 
the New Testament. 

Allow me to assert kindly, but positively, 
to my dear brethren in the Gospel Ministry, 
that no one has a right from God to preach 
or teach the Post-millennial doctrine, un- 
less he can establish its fundamental prin- 
ciples with plain texts from the New Tes- 
tament. I will here outline its three funda- 
mental principles, and ask any student of 
the Word to prove them from the New Tes- 
tament. 



The Lord's Coming Premillennial. 19 

PROPOSITION I. 
No Advent Till After the Millennium. 

1. The Lord will not return visibly and 
personally as He ascended for at least one 
thousand years. (Proof Texts.) 

2. We are not to be watching for this as 
an event imminent to our knowledge. (Proof 
Texts.) 

3. The world will be converted before He 
comes. (Proof Texts.) Who will under- 
take this exegetical Bible reading? 

Now for the statement and Scriptural 
warrant for the Pre-millennial Doctrine. 

PROPOSITION II. 

No Millennium Till Jesus Comes. 

I will present seven series of proof texts 
from the New Testament, selected from 
many: 

1. The purpose of God through this dis- 
pensation is distinctly declared to be wit- 
ness-bearing and the out-calling of a people 
for the name and Bride of Christ 



20 Maranatha. 

The Jews rejected Christ and the King- 
dom, and the erection and manifestation of 
the Kingdom was postponed until God 
could visit the Gentiles and call out from 
them a people to take the place which they 
lost. The Church is an elective body, 
called out of the world as an election of 
grace. The Greek word for Church signi- 
fies this and also a minority. It is irrel- 
evant to discuss the question of God's 
power to convert the world in this dis- 
pensation. It is not a question of power, 
but of plainly revealed purpose and experi- 
ence. Matt. 24:14; Acts 1:8; Acts 15:14-17. 

2. The Coming and the Kingdom are 
plainly revealed as contemporaneous. The 
Kingdom of which we are heirs and for 
which we pray, comes with the King. We 
should be careful not to interpret Scripture 
in the way of ' 'accommodation" to our no- 
tions. The New Testament never speaks 
of a Kingdom of Grace, a Spiritual King- 
dom, nor of a Kingdom in the heart. 
Christ's words, "The Kingdom of God is 



The Lord's Coming Premillennial. 21 

within you," was spoken to the Pharisees, 
in whom no one believes there was a spirit- 
ual kingdom. Besides, scholars know that 
the reading should be, "The Kingdom of 
God is among you," that is, The King is 
here, representing the Kingdom. Luke 
19:12,13; Acts 3:20,21; 2 Tim. 4:1,2. The 
Nobleman goes to a far country to receive 
for himself a kingdom and to return. Luke 
19:12. 

3. Antichrist and Satan will be alive and 
active until the Lord comes. The writers 
of both the Old and New Testaments pre- 
dict for the end of this age the coming of a 
great and malignant foe of God and man. 
Satan will set him up against Christ, and in 
power and malice he ranks next to Satan 
himself. 

He is the supreme foe of human kind, 
concentrating the evils of the last times in 
himself, as Christ concentrates the good in 
Himself. This Beast will be destroyed at 
the Coming of Christ, and his body given 
to the burning flame, and Satan will be 



22 Maranatha. , 

bound and cast into the bottomless pit. 
There can be no millennium while these 
two great enemies are on earth. Gen. 3:15; 
2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 20:1,2. 

4. The true Church made universal and 
spiritualized would still lack the Kingdom 
form. Constantine corrupted it by attempt- 
ing to give it this form. 

The true Church is not the promised 
Kingdom erected and manifested. The 
Greek words for Church and Kingdom are 
never interchanged in the New Testament. 
Elders and Deacons are not the officials 
of a kingdom. We pray "Thy Kingdom 
come," not thy Church come. Saints are 
not heirs and not possessors of the King- 
dom. In Daniel, second chapter, the God 
of heaven sets up a kingdom "in the days 
of these kings, the ten kings of the divid- 
ed empire, and not the one king, Tiberius, 
reigning at the time of Pentecost. 

The Church is a humble, suffering, sword- 
less body; the Kingdom is a triumphant, 
reigning and armed body. You may see the 



The Lord's Coming Premillennial. 23 

error of confounding these two bodies by 
interchanging these two words in reading 
the scriptures. Isa. 32:1; Matt. 6:10; Luke 
1:32,33; Rev. 20:4. 

5. It is plainly prophesied that the Church 
will continue in its present imperfect, mixed 
and humiliating condition, until the Lord 
comes. The bad fish remain in the net till 
the end of the age, the fowls in the great 
tree, and the leaven of evil in the three 
measures of sound doctrine. In the Sermon 
on the Mount Christ warns us against the 
false teachers and formal professors of the 
last times. 

The Spirit speaks expressly of a signal 
departure from the faith, and Paul tells us 
that that day will not come until there is a 
falling away. In his epistle to Timothy he 
gives a sad forecast of the characteristics 
of these perilous times in the Church. 
Luke 18:2-8; Matt. 7:22,23; John 16:33; 
ITim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-8. 

6. Jew and Gentile will continue in unbe- 
lief and sin until the Lord comes. A veil 



24 Maranatha. 

hangs before the heart of the Jew until the 
fullness, the elect body, of the Gentiles 
come in. Jerusalem is trodden under foot 
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. 

Christ tells us that the tares are to grow 
in the world until the harvest at the end of 
the age, and He distinctly declares that the 
days immediately preceding His coming 
will repeat the times of Noah and of Lot. 
Unbelief, worldliness, sensuality, pleasure- 
loving and violence will abound. There- 
fore we are not to conform to this age, but 
be separated from it. Rom. 11:25,26; Matt. 
13:30; Luke 21:24; Luke 17:26-30. 

7. Finally, we are repeatedly commanded 
to watch for His coming with expectancy, 
as for an event always imminent to our 
knowledge. 

Can we fulfill this plain and repeated 
command, if we know that at least one 
thousand years of millennial reign will in- 
tervene? Are not these samples of Scrip- 
ture testimony sufficient to prove that there 
can be no Millennium till Christ comes? 



The Lord's Coming Premillennial. 25 

Every great creed since the Reformation 
teaches the imminence of the Lord's Com- 
ing. Young converts who take to the 
study of the Word generally receive this 
doctrine and learn to watch for His coming. 
I have never known one to embrace the 
Post-millennial theory, except through the 
traditions of men. The early Church, as a 
body, held this doctrine. Matt. 24:42-51; 
Matt. 25:13; Mark 13:35-37; Luke 12:35-40. 
Nebuchadnezzar's image of worldly do- 
minion is smitten to powder by the grind- 
ing blow of the mighty stone, and the Fifth 
Kingdom comes in by catastrophe. Daniel 
saw the nations as wild beasts, having in- 
telligence, but not conscience, and prac- 
ticing the ethics of the jungle. Most of 
the history of nations through these times 
of the Gentiles, is written in the blood of 
man and the tears of woman. And thus 
prophecy declares it will be among the na- 
tions until the end of Gentile times. No 
nation on earth fully acknowledges the 
Crown Rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



26 Maranatha. , 

There can be no Christian State nor Millen- 
nium until Jesus comes. 

The Church should keep a holy Bridal 
heart and pray unceasingly, "Come, Lord 
Jesus, come quickly. " Read the last prom- 
ise and the last prayer of Revelation. 
What comes from heaven in a promise, 
should be wafted back to heaven in a 
prayer. 

"E'en now let my ways, Lord, 
Be bright with Thy praise, Lord, 

For brief are the days, 

Ere Thy coming again. 
I'm waiting for Thee, Lord, 
Thy beauty to see, Lord; 

No triumph for me 

Like Thy coming again." 

How then will the Millennial Kingdom be 
erected and manifested? Five distinct pro- 
phetic events are recorded, which must con- 
spire to bring the world to the feet of its 
rightful Sovereign. Christ refused to take 
the Kingdom from Satan, the god of this 
world, but He will come and take it for 



The Lord's Coming Premillennial. 27 

Himself and all the glory of it. These five 
events are as follows: 

1. The personal and visible appearing of 
the Lord Jesus Christ in great power and 
glory. We know something of the personal 
influence of a great military leader in the 
crisis of battle, and we may anticipate this 
tremendous influence when our Lord shall 
descend with a shout and the voice of the 
Archangel and the Trump of God. 

In the crisis of a great battle between 

Scotland and England, the poet cries out: 

" Where was Roderick then? 
One blast upon his bugle horn 

Were worth a thousand men." 

Ps. 2:8,9; Luke 19:15; 1 Thess. 4:13-18. 

2. The destruction of the last great Anti- 
christ by the brightness of His coming. 
The ' 'Mystery of Lawlessness" has long 
been working, and many antichrists have 
appeared, but this last Wicked One will 
work and deceive with satanic power until 
Christ comes to destroy him. Dan. 7:11; 2, 
Thess. 2:8-10; Rev. 19:18-21. 



28 Maranatha. 

3. The binding and outcasting of Satan 
so that he can deceive the nations no more. 
"Old Satan is too strong for young Melanc- 
thon." This strong-armed man can only be 
bound and cast out by the one who is strong- 
er than he. Probably few now realize 
the tremendous influence of Satan upon the 
hearts and minds of men. Isa. 24:21-23; 
Rev. 12:10; Rev. 20:1-5. 

4. The conversion, testimony and mis- 
sionary effort of the Jews. God chose 
Abraham to be a channel of blessing to the 
world. His covenant was unconditional. 
His gifts and callings are without repent- 
ance. The Jew defaulted at the cross, and 
for a time he is left in unbelief, but when 
Christ comes as a King, they will say, "Lo, 
this is our God, we have waited for Him 
and He will save us." Jonah, who pro- 
duced the greatest revival the world ever 
saw, is a forerunner of the converted Jew. 
Study the Book of Jonah and the Eleventh 
of Romans. Isa. 25:5-10 and 26:1-4. 

5. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in 



The Lord's Coming Premillennial. 29 

complete fulfillment of the Pentecostal 
blessing, amid blended judgments and mer- 
cies. 

Thus Christ will take the world for Him- 
self, and to Him be all the glory. Ps. 72: 
6-8; Hos. 6:2; Joel 2:28-32. 



CHAPTER III. 

SIGNS OF HIS NEAR COMING. 

The exact time of our Lord's return is 
absolutely unrevealed and unknown, so that 
we may be always watchful and ready. 
Matt. 24:36. The chronology, which per- 
tains primarily to the Jews, is uncertain, 
especially as God does not take pains to 
mark time when His first chosen people are 
out of fellowship with Him, and the various 
signs are intentionally a little indefinite. 

The near approach of this grand event, 
however, may be discerned by certain 
prophetic signs, increasing in number and 
clearness. Certain fig-leaf signs mark that 
summer is nigh, though they do not define 
the exact date. Luke 21:29-31. 

God's dealings with the world in all great 
j udgments of the past, like the flood, f ore- 
shadow His dealings concerning "that 



Signs of His Near Coming. 31 

great and notable Day of the Lord" yet to 
come. He has enlightened His own people, 
and through them warned the world. Be- 
lievers, as ' 'Children of the light," have 
heeded His warnings and escaped, while 
the wicked have neglected them and per- 
ished. 

So of the great catastrophe and triumph 
now just before us. We are not in dark- 
ness that that day should overtake us as a 
thief. Study carefully First Thessalonians, 
fourth and fifth chapters. 

I cannot here take time to distinguish 
between the first epoch, His coming for His 
people, and the second epoch, His coming 
with them — both simple stages of the one 
great event — but will unfold mainly the 
signs of His coming for His people. 
n 1. Physical signs. The powers of heaven 
will be shaken, the sun and moon clouded, 
the earth swept by cyclones, shaken by 
earthquakes, and distressed by pestilence 
and famine. 

Earth and man are connected in ruin and 



32 Maranatha. 

redemption, and nature has always been 
affected by great moral catastrophes. The 
sun was veiled, the rocks were rent and 
the dead were raised at the crucifixion of 
Christ. 

We have seen many of these physical 
signs. The sun has been clouded, causing 
a dark day; stars have fallen in multitudes; 
cyclones that have utterly confounded all 
scientists in their destructive work have 
prevailed; strange climatic changes have 
come, and pestilence and famine have de- 
vastated large portions of the earth. Luke 
21:25; Mark 13:8; Acts 2:19,20. 

2. Intellectual signs. The inventions of 
genius will give rapid transit and increase 
of knowledge, making better and worse 
men than ever lived before. Civilization 
will prove a powerful source of good and 
ill. Scoffing scientists will assert 6 'the uni- 
formity of nature" and deny the supernat- 
ural, especially the promise of His coming. 

Evil servants will postpone His coming, 
in the desire of their hearts, and signal 



Signs of His Near Coming. 33 

apostasies will occur, especially among 
men who have too much education for their 
brains. 

We need not look far to see such signs. 
Our splendid commercial, intellectual and 
materialistic civilization bewitches the peo- 
ple with a frenzy of money making, pleas- 
ure seeking and monumental egotism. In 
such a civilization the Church is apt to be- 
come spirit- wed to the State and to partake 
of its pride and vainglory. Man is almost 
deified and Christ is crucified between two 
thieves, business and pleasure. 

Our education is secularized, if not heret- 
ical, in popular theories of evolution that 
deny creation and all the supernatural. 
Our most popular literature is fiction, and 
is of the earth, earthy. Man has done his 
uttermost, and Christianity never dominates 
the masses in such a civilization. 

These * 'Times of the Gentiles" seem to 
have culminated, and we now wait for the 
golden age of the Kingdom. Dan. 12 :4 ; Matt. 
24:48; 2 Pet. 3:3,4. 



34 Maranatha. 

3. Commercial signs. Marts of trade and 
business will be filled with the intense 
frenzy of worldliness as never before. Mon- 
umental fortunes will be heaped up far ex- 
ceeding all the past. Men and women will 
be overwhelmed with business and politics, 
fashion and pleasure, and Great Babylon 
will be in her boom- time of glory. 

This influence of the Church will be al- 
most resistless, and reaching out for the 
wealth and scepter of the world, her spir- 
itual sovereignty and glory depart. 

Christianity was more powerful and vic- 
torious on the altar of sacrifice than on the 
throne of the Caesars. The Church was 
greater in the Catacombs than in the Cathe- 
drals. She was purer in the humble homes 
of the Pilgrims than she is now in the mar- 
ble Church palaces of the millionaires. 
"When the humble "herb" of the mustard 
in the parable grows to a great ' 'tree" of 
human glory, ' 'fowls" lodge in the branches. 

God chose at first the weak things of the 
world to confound the mighty. One of the 



Signs of His Near Coming. 35 

strongest points in the early Church was 
that it had so little money; one of the 
weakest points in the modern Church is 
that she has so much. This is an age of 
commercial secularism, such as was never 
seen before. Luke 17:28-30; Luke 21:34,35; 
Rev. 18:11-13. 

4. Political signs. There will be great 
national jealousy and distress, heart fail- 
ure, and fear of things coming on the earth, 
the bombs, bullets and knives of anarchists, 
seditions and wars, but a delusive ' 'peace 
and safety" with reference to any judgment 
from God. 

The egotistical stage of civilization leads 
to the idiotic. The maddest, merriest time 
of social success in cities is often when ruin 
is impending. When the streets of Paris 
were running with the blood of revolution 
in 1791, seventeen theaters were thronged 
day and night with the gay and giddy crowd. 
Through the fascination of things seen, and 
luxurious methods of living, Satan blinds 
the minds of men to the life to come. 



36 Maranatha. 

We have to-day in Church and State the 
courtly Herodian, the rationalistic Saddu- 
cee, and the formal Pharisee, agreeing in su- 
preme optimism for both Church and State. 

More than forty years ago Buckle, a pow- 
erful errorist, asserted that civilization 
would soon make war impossible. Since 
then we have had war constantly, and some 
of the most stupendous and destructive 
wars of all history. The proudest inven- 
tions of human genius become the mechan- 
ics of depravity. 

God demands moral worth, rather than 
the intellectual and material values of man's 
boastful civilizations, and He warns us 
against the many hurtful things of man's 
invention. Worldly prosperity was the 
promise to the Jew, but worldly adversity 
is rather the promise to the Christian. 
Some one even says, "To die rich is to be 
damned." Luke 21:25,26; 1 Thess. 5:1-3; 
Rev. 11:18. 

5. Social signs. Lawlessness against 
authority in the family, Church and State, 



Signs of His Near Coming. 37 

and treasonable combinations to throw off 
all wholesome restraints. The anarchist op- 
posing all law and government is born of 
the Lawless One. The masses cry, "We 
are governed too much," and demand "lib- 
erty." Christendom is full of "lovers of 
pleasure more than lovers of God." 

The frenzy of pleasure in worldly amuse- 
ments, and the functions of hypocritical and 
hollow-hearted society with its ungodly 
fashions, is doing more to injure the spir- 
itual life of the Church than all the saloons. 
The popular religiousness of the day is gay, 
flippant and reckless. 

This social frivolity and pleasure-loving 
is absolutely incompatible with the relig- 
ion of the Bible. It is self-indulgence, and 
not self-denial. It is a marked character- 
istic of the last times. 

In short, the times of Noah and Lot are 
reproduced. Ps. 2:1-3; Luke 17:26-28; 2 
Thess. 2:7,8; 2 Tim. 3:4. 

All rules to keep church members from 
dancing, card-playing, theater- going, and 



38 Maranatha. 

other worldly amusements, are called by- 
popular preachers "futile interdictions." 
Indeed, some preachers give no other rea- 
son for not indulging in these things them- 
selves but professional policy. Of course 
they give no testimony against them. The 
social life of Christendom fulfills the pro- 
phetic signs of the last times. 

6. Spiritual signs. A sad apostasy of un- 
belief, delusion, doctrine of devils, luke- 
warmness and formalism among the pro- 
fessed people of God. False Christs and 
teachers deceiving many with such delu- 
sions as Spiritualism, Christian Science and 
Theosophy. 

Ordained men in pulpits, professors' 
chairs and press are now doing more to 
undermine faith in the Bible than all out- 
side infidels. Although generally reticent 
on the final doom of the wicked, they seem 
to expand love to the larger hope of uni- 
versal salvation. Sinners do not fear hell, 
and saints show but little anxiety for 
them. 



Signs of His Near Coming. 39 

Howard Crosby said: "The great bulk of 
the Protestant Church is identified with the 
world. It has a name to live while it is 
dead. It has turned its doctrine into natu- 
ralism or rationalism, and its life into self- 
ishness. The pulpit is made a stage on 
which to strut and pose before a gaping 
world. We must look to ourselves and our 
families, that we go not with the multitude 
of professing Christians to do evil, and so 
perish when Christ shall come as a thief." 

This prophetic falling away demands a 
jovial ministry and brief, pretty preaching 
to make religion attractive and easy and 
bring in a revenue from the world. 

It calls for pleasing pulpiteers, 

Modern and brilliant and fast; 
Who Will show how men may live as they list, 

And gfo to heaven at last. 

But woe to these unfaithful, man-pleas- 
ing stewards when the Master comes. It 
is no wonder that His Coming is unpopular 
among them. Gal. 1:10; Matt. 24:12; Luke 
18:8; 2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5. 



40 Maranatha. 

7. Evangelistic signs. A great revival 
of evangelistic zeal in spreading the gospel, 
and fulfilling the Great Commission in all 
lands, together with the return of the Jews 
to their own city, and even a partial restora- 
tion of Apostolic gifts and power. 

Never since Apostolic days has there 
been such facilities for the spread of the 
gospel, nor such zeal in the work. The 
Church realizes that she has a hurry order 
to fulfill the Great Commission. Spiritual 
Christians are realizing more and more that 
this is the greatest work in the world, and 
that when it is fulfilled the grandest event 
in all the future will occur, the glorious 
Coming of the Lord. Looking upon our 
side we "hasten His Coming" by our speed 
in this work. 

No former generation had our facilities 
for finishing this work in haste. 

It is true that many of these signs have 
appeared in all ages, but they were never 
before so numerous and signal. How im- 
portant that we, like the Sons of Issachar, 



Signs of His Near Coming. 41 

should understand these signs of the times, 
and thus know what we ought to do. If 
they were clearly seen and appreciated by 
all of God's professed people, what a mar- 
velous change would soon be seen. Matt. 
24:14; Mark 16:15; Rev. 14:6,7. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE. 

Some good Christians find difficulties and 
objections concerning the Blessed Hope of 
the Lord's Coming, which should be fairly 
met and kindly answered. Ridicule and re- 
viling call for little notice. Scoffers will 
soon enough have occasion for repentance 
and terror. Their unbelief is inexcusable 
and their escape impossible. I Thess. 5 :l-3. 
I suppose that an Apostle would doubt the 
piety of any one who should speak lightly 
or indifferently of the subject, for it was a 
universal characteristic of saints that they 
4 'loved His Appearing." 2 Tim. 4:8. 

"Well we know that all men must die, 
and death is the Lord's coming to me." 

Two mistakes, my Brother. It is repeat- 
edly taught in the New Testament that we 
shall not all die, but a whole generation of 



Objections to the Doctrine. 43 

saints will go without dying, like Enoch 
and Elijah, in the highest form of re- 
demption. And again, the Coming of the 
Lord in the New Testament never means 
death, but an event that presents the 
strongest contrast with it of any two events 
in all the eternal future. Death as an in- 
spiring, cheering and comforting motive 
can never take the place of the Lord's Com- 
ing. 

"But there has been a great deal of error 
and fanaticism connected with it." 

Yes, and more or less with every doctrine 
of the Christian religion. This objection 
might lead us to abandon all the doctrines 
of the gospel. "Prove all things; hold fast 
that which is good. " Sift out the error and 
hold fast the truth. 

"The Church is in danger of heresies 
from these unlearned and ignorant lay 
preachers who are teaching this doctrine. " 

So far, all the great heresies that have 
distracted the Church have come from or- 
dained ministers and theological professors. 



44 Maranatha. 

These spiritual and candid students of the 
Word seldom go far astray. Unsanctified 
learning coming out of our schools and 
blending with worldliness in the churches 
is falling as a fearful blight upon the cause 
of Christ. Humble Bible Schools are tak- 
ing the place of some of our apostate theo- 
logical seminaries. 

' 'Well, if I am only a Christian when the 
Lord comes, I shall be saved and all will be 
well." 

You will be saved, but it is not all right 
if you do not love His Appearing and obey 
the command to watch. You will be 
ashamed before Him, suffer loss in your 
reward, and perhaps be saved only as out 
of fire. Your life is a gift, but your reward 
is earned. You are as plainly commanded 
to watch for His coming as to repent, or to 
believe on Him. 

Indeed, if you do not watch, the follow- 
ing texts ought to warn you of failing to 
share in the first resurrection. Matt. 
24:42-51; Luke 21:36; Rev. 16:15. 



Objections to the Doctrine. 45 

If you think this is a pretty good world, 
and growing better every day, God may 
leave you behind to get better acquainted 
with it in the great Tribulation, until you 
are willing to be separated from it. 

"The prophecies are mysterious, and I 
do not get time to study this subject of the 
Lord's Coming." 

All Scripture is given by inspiration of 
God, and about one-third of it is prophecy. 
Will you neglect all this part? The main 
facts concerning the Coming of the Lord 
are plainly revealed, and they do not re- 
quire long and intricate study. The first 
and great fact is the Imminence of His 
Coming. We do not need to know all the 
minutia of prophetic events upon which the 
light is dim. 

Unlettered mechanics, with little help but 
the Bible and the Holy Spirit, working ten 
hours a day, find time to study and learn 
the main facts of prophecy, and surely 
ministers ought to do it. Without some 
knowledge of prophecy we shall err in 



46 Maranatha. 

some important doctrines and timely duties. 
Take time, dear brother, from some less 
important occupation, perhaps the reading 
of fiction or the functions of worldly so- 
ciety. 

The Jews were reproved for not studying 
and understanding their own prophecies. 
Indeed, it was on account of this neglect 
and- blindness that they rejected and cruci- 
fied their Messiah. A special benediction 
is pronounced upon him that heareth and 
readeth the great prophetic book of the 
New Testament. Rev. 1 :3. 

' 'Does it not paralyze missions and cut 
the nerve of Christian endeavor?" 

The vague notion of it in the mind of an 
outsider might, but the vital knowledge 
and experience of it does not. How can 
truth paralyze the cause of truth? We 
* 'Hasten the coming of the Lord" by our 
speed in fulfilling the Great Commission, 
and calling out the Bride, and the ever-liv- 
ing thought that He may come at any mo- 
ment is a divine inspiration. 



Objections to the Doctrine. 47 

But the most practical answer to this ob- 
jection is found in the lives of men and 
women who embrace it. These are certain- 
ly among the most spiritual, active and 
zealous missionary workers in the world. 
They often constitute most of the spiritual 
life and activity of our churches. 

I may cite in evidence such men as Spur- 
geon, Guinness, Muller and Hudson Taylor, 
in England, and Gordon, Pier son, Erdman, 
Dixon and Brooks, of the United States, 
and nearly all the evangelists in the world, 
from Moody on down. Most of our foreign 
missionaries, laboring zealously to fulfill 
the Great Commission, are pre-millennial- 
ists. 

"Well, it makes the gospel a failure." 

If the gospel had promised the conver- 
sion of the world in this dispensation, 
preaching would have been the most dismal 
failure on record. After eighteen hundred 
years we have about thirty millions of evan- 
gelical Church members, out of a popula- 
tion of fifteen hundred millions. More 



48 Maranatha. 

than fifty pagans are born to every one con- 
verted to God. Never has any country, 
city, town or hamlet been * 'taken for 
Christ." The old Bible lands are now mis- 
sionary ground. 

An enemy might claim that Post-mille- 
narians make the gospel a failure by 
unfulfilled promise. Were all past dis- 
pensations failures because they did not 
transform the nations? Did Christ and the 
Apostles make a failure because they did 
not convert the world? 

The gospel is not a failure, because it 
accomplishes just what it purposes and 
promises, an election of grace, a Gentile 
Bride called out of the world for the Son 
of God. It is a matter of purpose and 
promise through this elective dispensation, 
and not one of power and pride. There- 
fore the gospel is a success. See the divine 
program in Acts 15:14-17. All who labor 
faithfully in fulfilling the Commission will 
attain a triumphant success and a glorious 
reward. 



Objections to the Doctrine. 49 

"If you are right in this, why are so many 
mistaken?" 

Why were the priests and rulers of the 
Jews blinded when spiritual life was dead 
and judgment hung over the beloved city? 
Read the solemn and pathetic words of the 
Saviour. Luke 19:41-44. Why were the 
Antediluvians and the cities of the plains 
careless in the face of God's warnings? No 
doubt the Caanite cities were optimistic, 
with fine arts and splendid civilization. 
Perhaps Lot himself, though a preacher of 
righteousness, sat on the sunlit peak of 
progress, often dilating upon social ad- 
vancement, "the larger religious hope," 
"the ascent of man," and the certain rise 
in real estate in view of ' 'the larger Sodom. " 
It is natural for most men to be optimistic, 
and to believe what they desire rather than 
to study the Word of God for truth. 

"But I do not believe in making the 
Lord's Coming a hobby. " How many times 
have you ever preached upon it? "Well, 
I do not know as I ever did, but I have re- 

4 



50 Maranatha. 

f erred to it." Do not fear, then, you are in 
no great danger of making a "hobby" of it. 
I submit, in conclusion, that the only 
valid objection to any doctrine is that it is 
not true. That does not lie against this 
doctrine. 



CHAPTER V. 

WHY IT SHOULD BE FAITHFULLY 
PREACHED. 

This doctrine should be faithfully preach- 
ed, first of all, because it is a part of 
the gospel. Indeed, it is a very prominent 
and essential part. 

The second coming of Christ is spoken of 
in the Old Testament ten times as often as 
His first coming. It is a strange fact to- 
day that scarcely any subject is made more 
of in the New Testament than this, and 
scarcely any made less of in the popular 
preaching of the day. 

It is a seminary canon that we should 
deal out truth in the relative proportions 
found in the Bible, and especially in the 
New Testament. Now, as this subject is 
spoken of more than three hundred times 
in the New Testament, let public preachers 



52 Maranatha. 

and teachers follow this canon. They will 
then preach upon it more than ten times as 
often as on death, more than forty times as 
often as on ecclesiastical organizations, and 
more than forty million times as often as on 
politics, science, literature and social evo- 
lution combined. 

Christ and the Apostles made this doc- 
trine prominent in their preaching. They 
connected it with every doctrine of the 
Christian system, and every duty of the 
Christian life. They used it for every 
motive that could influence saint and sin- 
ner. The Apostolic Church followed this 
faith and example. 

Christ and the Apostles commanded us to 
preach it. After writing of this to Titus, 
Paul says, ' 'These things teach." We sin 
at a dear rate if, for fear of unpopularity 
or any other motive, we neglect to obey this 
command. 

It is high treason against God Almighty 
for an ambassador to change the emphasis 
from eternity to time, and from the great 



Why It Should Be Faithfully Preached. 53 

themes of Ruin, Redemption, the Coming 
of the Lord and a rapidly approaching 
Judgment with its stupendous issues, to 
any secular themes, and especially the glo- 
ries of an intellectual and materialistic civ- 
ilization. The Word never promises social 
or civic regeneration in this elective age. 

This is "present truth" of ever-increas- 
ing moment and adaptation, as "we seethe 
day approaching." Many ministers are 
very zealous for good government, why do 
we not hear more from them about "bring- 
ing back the King?" 

Some truths are always equally impor- 
tant, while others have a special, temporary 
or local importance. The ministry of 
Enoch, Noah, Jonah, Lot and John the 
Baptist pertained to the latter class. As 
God heralded coming Judgment and De- 
liverance through them, so in these "last 
days" no small part of our ministry should 
herald 



54 Maranatha. 

"The King that comes in mercy; 
The King that comes in might; 
To terminate the evil, 
And diadem the right." 

Preaching the imminence of the Lord's 
Coming is a vehicle of reviving power for 
the Laodicean Church, and of salvation for 
sinners. Paul and Peter used it for this 
purpose, and Enoch, the first Millenarian 
on record, warned the antediluvian sinners 
of a coming Lord. Jude 14,15. 

If the professing Church had been blest 
with a faithful ministry and leadership in 
this, it would not have been in its present 
condition of unbelief and worldliness. It 
is emphatically a separating and a purify- 
ing hope. It separates, consecrates and 
concentrates its devotees. If anything now, 
by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, can 
arouse the Bride from her slumbers, or 
from dallying in the lap of the Christ- 
rejecting world, it must be the advent cries 
of the coming Bridegroom, Judge and 
King. And nothing else can arouse the 



Wfiy It Should Be Faithfully Preached. 55 

sinner like the solemn proclamation of that 
day of wrath which will come as a snare, 
like a thief, like a flash of lightning. Luke 
21:34,35; 1 Thess. 5:1-3. 

This theme comes to us with double-act- 
ing power, presenting both a blessed and 
a dreadful phase. Surely, "Maranatha" 
should be our holy watchword in these last 
and perilous times. 

This proclamation is a prophetic means of 
hastening the coming, the crowning and the 
Kingdom. It helps to bring in the Gentile 
Bride by stimulating the fulfillment of the 
Great Commission. Matt. 24:14; 2 Pet.3:12. 

Directly contrary to the theory of some 
who oppose us, or fear evil from the doc- 
trine, the preaching of it by pastors, evan- 
gelists and missionaries is used of God as 
the chief means of reviving the missionary 
spirit of the present generation. Its rare 
and reviving power is filling Christendom 
with flaming evangelists and consecrated 
missionaries, who are making all men hear 
the gospel at home, and sending mission- 



56 Maranatha. 

aries to pagan lands annually by hundreds. 
Pre-millennialists are found everywhere in 
the van of Bible study, orthodoxy and gos- 
pel enterprise. I have never known one to 
lapse from orthodoxy into the destructive 
criticism of the day. Wonderful progress 
is made in these days in the study and in- 
terpretation of prophecy. The pastors 
and evangelists who love and preach that 
"Blessed Hope" are most richly blest in 
winning souls and edifying the Body of 
Christ. They preach a full, rich, orthodox 
gospel. Study prayerfully Matt. 7:22-27; 
Matt. 24:48-51; Heb. 9:28 and 10:25-37. 

Let not man-pleasing or any other sinis- 
ter motive lead us to neglect to study and 
preach this doctrine, when so much light is 
thrown upon it and we are so near the 
grand event. We may well fear a blight on 
our ministry for this neglect, and we shall 
suffer loss when the Lord comes. 

Beware of self-inflicted blindness; noth- 
ing is so dark to such eyes as the bright 
light of prophecy. 



Why It Should Be Faithfully Preached. 57 

All who are willing to study the uses 
made of this doctrine in the New Testament 
will find such lessons as follows: 

We are exhorted by this purifying hope 
to assurance, brotherly love, heavenly 
affections and the pilgrim spirit, over and 
over again. Many texts in this relation 
teach us to be watchful, sober, patient and 
on guard against unjust judgments, in view 
of the coming of the Judge. We are ex- 
horted to be pure and holy in heart, sep- 
arated from the world, consecrated and 
abiding closely in Christ ; in imminent ex- 
pectation of His coming. 

We are stimulated to confess Christ bold- 
ly at any cost, to endure affliction, rejection 
and all earthly loss with fortitude and 
cheerfulness, in view of the coming day of 
triumph and crowning. We are comforted 
in bereavement by the blessed hope of 
resurrection, rapture and reunion with 
those that we have loved so long and lost 
awhile. 



58 Maranatha. 

"Our loved ones before, Lord, 
Their troubles are o'er, Lord, 
We'll meet them once more 
At Thy coming" again." 

We are charged to be self-denying, faith- 
ful and diligent in service, regardless of 
the fear or favor of men, and to solemnly 
warn the wicked of that "Great Day." If 
any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let 
him be Anathema, Maranatha. 1 Cor. 16:22. 
In short, we are taught to regard this as 
the supremely important event of the 
future, to live in expectancy and watchful- 
ness, be witnesses of it and to live in its 
blessing and power. 

Then, brethren, let us preach faithfully 
this Blessed Hope. Let us cease trying to 
run the world, and run as many out of it to 
Christ as possible. Let us cease to boast 
of converting the world, which we cannot 
do, and which is not commanded nor prom- 
ised, and emphasize its evangelism, which 
is commanded and which is possible in the 
present generation. 



Why It Should Be Faithfully Preached. 59 

What splendid themes this blessed and 
glorious hope affords for preaching, espe- 
cially to the dear saints of God. Suddenly 
the first trumpet sounds and the sleeping 
saints rise in glorified bodies. Then at the 
sound of the last trump the watching saints, 
are thrilled into immortality in a moment, 
in the twinkling of an eye, and all are 
caught up together to meet the Lord in the 
air. 

Then comes coronation day, when all are 
crowned together. The work of prophets 
and Apostles, and "the glorious company 
of the Martyrs," is not yet finished. We 
still hear their testimony and they rule us 
from their graves. Abel being dead yet 
speaketh. Heb. 11:14. Now the spirit is 
reunited to the once entombed but now 
spiritual body, perhaps endowed with a 
thousand senses and a thousand avenues of 
delight before unknown. Gold dust is not 
to be compared with the precious blood of 
God's saints. The Holy Spirit stands sen- 
tinel in the marble-planted yard, until that. 



60 Maranatha. 

glorious morning when He shall raise and 
glorify these dismantled temples of God. 

On that fair morn of morns we meet 
again, never to take the parting hand, the 
loved ones whom we have entombed with 
many tears, for the night of the grave. We 
parted in tears of heart-rending grief ; we 
meet with songs of triumphant joy. Isa. 
26:19. 

"And with the morn those angel faces smile, 
That I have loved so long and lost awhile." 

Beloved friends long parted by conti- 
nents, by seas, or by cruel death, broken and 
scattered families, now meet in a charmed 
circle of everlasting love. And these golden 
links of affection, once sanctified and now 
glorified in Christ, are imperishable. 

' 'Our love here tried and purified 
Will find in heaven its perfect rest." 

Now the once sleeping and the watching 
ones sit down together at the Marriage 
Supper of the Lamb, of which the Lord's 
Supper now is a miniature rehearsal. Rev. 



Why It Should Be Faithfully Preached. 61 

22:16. The Lord's table spans the Cross 
and the Crown. It revives our memories of 
a suffering Saviour and our hope of a com- 
ing Saviour. We "do this until He comes. " 
What foregleams of this we have in such 
passages as Rev. 7:16,17 and 21:3,4. Do 
not try to comfort people with the illusion 
that death is a bright angel. He is an en- 
emy to be destroyed. I weave no garlands 
for the King of Terrors; I hate him as I do 
the devil who has the power of death, 

Mary and Martha well said, "Lord, if 
thou hadst been here my brother had not 
died.' , No one ever died on earth in the 
presence of the Prince of Life, a blessed 
forecast of the time when He shall come 
again, and the inhabitants shall never say 
I am sick, neither can they die any more. 

Then in due time, after the prelude of 
millennial glory, this old earth, the great 
tomb of man, will be the restored Paradise 
of "man all immortal." The diamond that 
blazes from the diadem of a queen, is only 
glorified charcoal, and thus resplendent 



62 Maranatha. 

will earth come forth from her fiery trial. 
As a mantle of effulgent light covers the 
glorified body, so the radiant glory of God 
will enshroud the new earth, Redemption's 
Star, with perpetual light. 

This earth, redeemed and glorified in im- 
mortal garniture, will be the fairest, bright- 
est world in the universe. It will be the 
masterpiece of that great Being who "In 
the beginning laid deep the foundations of 
the universe, reared its high pillars, and 
poised its resplendent dome." The old 
creation has no place good enough for 
God's redeemed saints. Behold how He 
loves us! 

The wonderful Capital City of this new 
creation will be the New Jerusalem, com- 
ing down from God out of heaven, adorned 
as a Bride for her husband. This four- 
square Bridal City will be built, not of per- 
ishable wood or brick, man's imitation 
stone, but of all manner of precious stones, 
pellucid gold and shining pearls. Rev. 
21:10-27. 



Why It Should Be Faithfully Preached. 63 

This is that city for which the pilgrim 
Patriarchs looked, comforting themselves 
with the prospect and the assurance that 
God is not ashamed to be our God, or He 
never would have prepared for us such a 
gorgeous and golden city. Heb. 11:10-16. 

Cicero exiled could never look toward the 
beloved imperial city of Rome except 
through tear-lensed eyes. So when the eye 
of faith views this fair prospect we sing: 

"For very love beholding 
Thy happy name we weep." 

• Here the Redeemer and the Redeemed 
dwell together and share in eternal bliss 
and glory. The wildest dreams of tran- 
scendentalism fall short of this manifest 
destiny. The half has never yet been told, 
but we shall then see and enjoy the larger 
half. We have the alphabet now; we shall 
have the epic poem then. Our precious 
faith, blessed hope and goodly fellowship 
here is only a little heaven for beginners. 
For all our toils, sufferings and tears here 



64 Maranatha. 

we shall have an overpayment of rest, joy 
and glory. 

Let 11s choose these themes to cheer and 
comfort God's dear saints in the trials and 
afflictions of their pilgrimage. Let ns stim- 
ulate them to heavenly-mindedness and 
courage in the severe conflicts of this stren- 
uous life. Let us study and unfold these 
exceeding great and precious prophetic 
promises, strewed like jewels through the 
whole Word of God. 

Let the ear of faith always be open to the 
little golden bells of promise, dependent 
from the robe of our Great High Priest, 
who in the heavens is waiting for us as we 
are waiting for him. "Behold I come 
quickly! Behold I come quickly." "For 
yet a little while, how short, how short, the 
Coming One will come and will not tarry." 



CHAPTER VI. 

FINAL APPEAL. 

Dear Brethren in the Gospel Ministry, 
let us be brave and faithful at any cost o;r 
peril. Unspeakable responsibility rests 
upon leadership in these last perilous 
times. Defection and revival both begin at 
the head. 

Mr. Spurgeon, on his sick bed, said: "If 
I ever preach again, I will leave out every 
bit of flourish and preach nothing but pres- 
ent and pressing truth, hurl it at the peo- 
ple with all my might, live at high pressure, 
and direct all my energies to the salvation 
of souls." 

But little good and no transformation can 
be effected unless men and women are clean 
vessels and possess the genuine martyr 
spirit. It costs dearly now to be truQ and 
faithful, and we must count the cost. Min- 

5 



66 Maranatha. 

isterial pride and all earth-born ambitions 
in a world that has rejected and crucified 
our Lord, and never repented of it, must be 
surrendered. Do not try to make any- 
kind of worldly gain of godliness. Trust 
God and toil for bread as the Apostles did, 
rather than sell the truth. 

Brave unpopularity and ring out the New 
Testament watchword, "Maranatha!" Let 
us wake up and sober up the Church, so 
full of soft theology, sporting, festivity and 
dalliance in the lap of the world. I know 
of no truth now more powerful to purify 
and empower the Church for soul saving, 
and to produce a "clearance revival." This 
condition of frivolity, worldliness, rapidly 
increasing celebration days, and apostasy, 
cannot be found in any orthodox premillen- 
nial Church in America. 

The pulpit, with its "thus saith the Lord, " 
is a throne of blended grace and judgment. 
It is the highest summit of power, author- 
ity, discipline and responsibility under 
heaven. If you are a preacher, magnify 



Final Appeal. 67 

the royal ordinance of preaching. Do not 
minify preaching and magnify ceremonials. 
Preach a modern gospel, but the everlast- 
ing and only gospel, with no additions nor 
subtractions. Do not deliver cheap ed- 
itorials and hashed magazine articles. You 
need not be scholastic or artistic, and you 
should not be metaphysical. Science is for 
experts, but the gospel is for sinners. You 
are an oracle, rather than an artist. A 
gospel sermon is not an oration. God 
wants holy men more than brainy men in 
preaching, and heart more than art in 
worship. 

Away with dilettante preachers and ser- 
monettes with their artistic proportions of 
shortness and shallowness. God wants 
apostolic men in the pulpit. We need not 
be confused as to the mission and method 
of the ministry and Church by the multi- 
tude of miscellaneous societies and clubs 
that are splintering up society and su- 
perceding the Church. Away with them 
all. 



68 Maranatha. 

The greatest thing in the world is the 
soul. The greatest evil is sin. The great- 
est work is salvation. The only remedy 
for sin is the gospel, and the only society 
that God has ever organized to apply this 
remedy is the Church, but a higher type 
of piety is needed before God can do any 
mighty works. 

Says Edward Irving: "The missionary 
after the apostolic school is a man without 
a purse, without a scrip, without a change 
of raiment, without a staff, without the 
care of making friends or keeping friends, 
without the hope or desire of worldly good 
or fear of worldly loss, without the care of 
life or fear of death; of no rank, of no coun- 
try, of no condition; a man of one thought 
— the gospel of Christ; a man of one pur- 
pose — the glory of God; a fool and content 
to be reckoned a fool for Christ; a madman 
and content to be reckoned a madman for 
Christ." 

"Occupy till I come" is our Leader's 
command. Let the cross be the tombstone 



Final Appeal. 69 

between us and the world, and the counter- 
sign of our crusade. 

"His dying crimson like a robe, 

Spreads o'er His body on the tree; 
Then I am dead to all the globe, 
And all the globe is dead to me." 

Let us disencumber ourselves of the im- 
pediments of the world; crucify the flesh 
and resist the devil; beware of the spell of 
our splendid materialistic and ungodly civ- 
ilization; ring out the three great R's with 
trumpet tones — Ruin, Redemption and Re- 
generation. Let us exchange secular themes 
for divine, drop our piping fish horns and 
seize the old Gospel Trumpet, pealing forth 
God's imperative voice against unrighteous- 
ness, and calling for repentance, holiness 
and faith in the sacrificial work and the 
crown rights of the coming Son of God. 

We are to preach rather than to prove 
the gospel, and that not with wisdom of 
words. The anointing of the Holy Spirit 
gives it self -evidencing power. Let us dare 
to send away sad rather than glad audi- 



70 Maranatha. 

ences of sinners. Let our closet air be 
freighted with intercessions and our night- 
ly pillow be bedewed with pitiful tears for 
perishing sinners. 

"Courage, brother, do not stumble, 
Though thy path be dark as night; 
There's a star to guide the humble; 
Trust in God and do the right. 

"Some will hate thee, some will love thee, 
Some will natter, some will slight; 
Cease from man and look above thee, 
Trust in God and do the right." 

The Apostles never undertook municipal 
reform or legal process in any city, by 
lecturing or by "Law and Order Leagues." 
When we take up the cudgel of civil law we 
may as well law down the commission of 
the gospel. These two methods in the 
same person are incompatible. As preach- 
ers, not as reformers or policemen, Luther, 
Chalmers, Wesley, Finney, Spurgeon and 
Moody wrought divine wonders. 

The preacher is a Specialist; he has one 
thing to do, the best thing, and that is 



Final Appeal. 71 

enough. Gal. 1:10; Phil. 3:20. ' 'Questions 
of the day" are but questions of a day, for- 
gotten to-morrow, but we deal with the great 
pending concern of eternity 

Will my brethren who are stung with the 
gad-fly of an all-round reformer, candidly 
consider the Great Commission? Let not 
God's Ambassadors blunder, scatter and 
waste, and have a great bonfire of wood, 
hay and stubble at last. 

Some one may say, "Was not Isaiah a 
statesman as well as a Prophet?" Yes, 
under a Theocracy, when God appointed 
and anointed the rulers, but Paul was not a 
statesman and an apostle, after this The- 
ocracy passed away and the Times of the 
Gentiles came in. 

Lyman Beecher, at Litchfield toiled he- 
roically with the politics and laws of Con- 
necticut for some time. At length Joel 
Hawes met him with the question: "Well, 
Brother Beecher, how are you getting 
along at Litchfield?" He replied: "O, first 



72 Maranatha. 

rate, first rate, since I have quit trying to 
run the world." 

Let us try to make the Church what it 
ought to be. When it becomes a house of 
merchandise, a social club or a bureau of 
amusements, it ceases to be evangelical or 
evangelistic. Turn out the caterers from 
the Church kitchen, the showmen from the 
parlors, and the ungodly leaders who are 
shouting lies to heaven, from their choirs. 
Better be "up to duty" than "up to date." 
Most of our proud "Progressionists" and 
"Advanced Thinkers" know very little of 
the sure word of prophecy, and much of 
things that are not so. 

Our doctrine, of which the central truth 
is the imminence of the Lord's Coming, so 
prominent in the New Testament and in the 
Apostolic Church, and always so important, 
is still more important in this end of the 
age, as we see the day approaching, If 
the Church does not watch, Christ will 
come to her as a thief. No man is fully up 
to duty unless he "loves His appearing" 



Final Appeal. 73 

and is watching for it, especially when 
signs of His coming fill the earth and cloud 
the heavens. The speed of the times is 
frightful; the axles are hot, and they will 
soon set the train on fire. 

Outside of revelation there are many 
echoes, but few original voices. Churches, 
like individuals, chameleon-like, often fol- 
low the worldly customs around them. 
God is now raising up some independent 
churches, without denominational affilia- 
tion, to abate this ecclesiastical conformity. 
Many feel constrained to do as the rest do, 
and take ready-made thought, forged in the 
mind of others, and never prove or digest 
it. Many in our churches are so engaged in 
keeping up with the procession that they 
fail to see where they are going. 

The great trunk lines of prophecy are 
now luminous and they may easily be 
traced. To the call of the pilgrim, " Watch- 
man, what of the night?" we may reply 
with speedy emphasis: "The morning Com- 
eth and also the night." Isa. 21:11,12. It 



74 Maranatha. 

is now man's day and way; it will soon be 
God's day and way, but the night of doom 
awaits the wicked. 

Saints shine brightest in the midst of 
these fiery trials of the last times. Be not 
too spiritless but too spiritual to retaliate 
the charge of "troubling the Church." 
Who was to blame for the trouble in Israel 
in Elijah's time? 1 Kings 18:17,18. The 
world did not know Christ and it will not 
fully understand us. 1 John 3:1. 

The opprobrious epithets of modern 
"professors," "Fault-finder," "Old Fogy," 
"Pessimist," "Long-faced Religion," a 
"Relict left over," etc., are etherial mild- 
ness beside those hurled at John the Bap- 
tist, Paul and Christ. 

Deluded ecclesiastics may make a devil a 
Christian and a Christian a devil. They 
said that Paul was mad, and that Christ had 
a devil. The formalists of England called 
the Blue Beard Henry the Eighth a saint, 
and John Wesley in his "Holy Club," a 
"heavenly- minded little devil." 



Final Appeal, 75 

Keep out of the pink miasma of sloth, 
stagnation and confusion; be a preacher 
militant. Keep your standing good before 
the Master, whatever it be before men; 
count all else but loss and dross, and let 
none of these things worry or weary you. 
When disaster comes, some of these serene 
and silly optimists will wonder why you did 
not tell them beforehand, or remember 
with shame and self-reproach that you did. 

Creation is now passing through her Via 
Doloroso, and these latter-day groanings 
are the prelude to songs of jubilee and 
festal glory. Although attacked at every 
weak point with consummate skill and in- 
fernal energy, the Captain of our salva- 
tion walks before us with a drawn sword 
and the assurance of victory. Josh. 5:13. 
And God is raising up more and more able 
and scholarly defenders of the faith, espe- 
cially against traitors in the camp. We 
look out of the surrounding night into the 
eternal day. The sky, and not the grave,. 
is our luminous goal. 



76 Maranatha. 

Put on a shining morning face and keep 
on the watch, as men of the girdle, the 
staff and the lamp, fired with the sacred 
passion of the second life. We are march- 
ing to victory and to millions of ages of 
bliss and glory for every moment of toil 
and suffering. 

Let us labor to make the Church a rally- 
ing and radiating center for all consecrated 
workers. Christ for the world is our motto. 
God has fired the hearts of many saints 
to fulfill the great Commission in this gen- 
eration, gather out all that can be saved 
and "Hasten His Appearing." 

"The hearts of men are kindling", on mainland and 

on sea, 
With visions of the Holy Seers, unfolding far and 

free." 

Let our hearts beat time and our feet keep 
step with the inspiration of this "Joint 
High Commission" and bright prospect. 
Let us pray and work all the year round, 
and not give the devil the monopoly of the 
summer. "The King's business demands 



Final Appeal. 77 

haste," and we have no time for vain 
formalities or protracted palaver. Luke 
10:2-4. We are filling a hurry order, and 
lost opportunities have no resurrection. 

"We are living, we are dwelling, 
In a grand and awful time." 

Let us add to the "societies" a new order 
of men, inspired of God to be just as earn- 
est, self-sacrificing and enterprising, in 
winning souls, as worldlings are in pursuit 
of gold, fame and pleasure. Blend learn- 
ing, virtue and holiness. 

Dear Brethren in the Gospel Ministry, 
our day is momentous, our position sub- 
lime, our opportunity grand. We are in the 
toes and toe nails of Daniel's image. While 
we gladly fellowship all orthodox post-mil - 
lenarians and work shoulder to shoulder 
with them, yet with our eyes open to the 
stellar headlight of prophecy, we must 
faithfully testify that God is making this 
Blessed Hope more and more the doctrine 
of a standing or a falling church. 



78 Maranatha. 

Idleness is a sin and cowardice a crime 
amid the final perils and awful grandeur of 
these last days. The War of the Roses was 
but children's play compared with this su- 
perb service. 

Thank God, the densest darkness is just 
before the dawn, to which all the shadows 
point. The gloom time of the Old Creation 
heralds the bloom time of the New, 

" Where the faded flowers shall freshen, 
Freshen never more to fade." 

Walk closely, work earnestly and watch 
constantly, remembering that crowns are 
hanging in the sky for all the faithful. Al- 
ready has this gospel age continued longer 
than any preceding dispensation. Keep a 
sacred Bridal heart and spotless robes 
through this "little while." Amid these 
stirring times and closing scenes, never 
preach the gospel in cold blood, but shake 
your heart out at them. Deliver the stored 
energy of the truth and Spirit from your 
heart like thunder and lightning. 



Final Appeal. 79 

We need not shout, wear plumes nor 
flaunt banners yet, but it is supreme honor 
to live and be faithful amid these closing 
scenes. War makes heroes and the combat 
deepens. Crowns are won in battle, and 
the last battle is on. It is better now to be 
a faithful Son of God than to be the son of 
a hundred kings. 

"Be robed and ready when the Bridegroom comes." 

If like some of the old prophets you 
stand with a heroic minority and receive a 
solemn burden from God to find fault and 
renounce, as well as testify to the truth, you 
must have their invincible courage, utter 
self-sacrifice and divine strength. If you 
stand between the devil and the deep sea, 
your way out is perpendicular. Any cow- 
ard can praise Christ, but it takes a royal 
hero to follow Him. The truth will test you 
like martyrdom, but your highest privilege, 
and one never granted an angel, is to suffer 
for Christ. Acts 5 :41. Your scaffold sways 
the future. 



80 Maranatha. 

Alone, alone, alone, you may feel, like 
the Prophet Elijah; your testimony reject- 
ed and yourself despised, but do not look 
around to catch the smiles or shun the 
frowns of the world, nor let dollars stand 
against duty. If the world is against you, 
you must be against the world, and if no 
friendly faces shine upon you, look heaven- 
ward and forward. A setting star may 
rise again, but a falling star never. You 
need not defend your reputation nor keep 
your head on your shoulders. Paul kept 
the faith and lost his head, but God will ere 
long give it back to him crowned. 

Restore to the pulpit the lost motive, and 
point every eye to that grand impending 
event on which the age hinges, and which 
dazzles contemplation. Heaven will not 
hold back our glorious Redeemer much 
longer. ' 'Non amat qui non zelat, " he does 
not love who does not burn 



Final Appeal. 81 

When comes the King, in royal might, 

To crush the wrong and crown the right; 

When all the saints in glory meet, 

No more to die, no more to weep; 

When thrones are set and crowns are given, 

With all the rich rewards of heaven; 

O, in that glorious by and by, 

What's done for God can never die. 



THE BLESSED HOPE 

BY GEO. C. NEEDHAM. 



It is Purifying — Pacifying — Comforting — Glo- 
rious — Promised Glories — What Should 
be our Present Attitude? 

Whatever meaning we may put on the 
prophetic event introduced in the Scrip- 
tures as our Lord's second coming, we must 
observe that it is frequently specified as 
A hope. And as hope implies expectation, 
the conviction of something unfulfilled, 
that term alone designates the Advent as a 
future thing. 

Hope is the opposite of despair. It has 
a definite object in view, and as that object 
is apprehended at hand or remotely, the 
soul is swayed by delight or discourage- 



84 The Blessed Hope. 

ment. The blessed hope and coming in 
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ should not 
be relegated to the regions of mystery. 
How can it be a hope of any value if it be 
some uncertain, indefinite, far-away and 
non-essential theory which happened to 
drop into the Bible? In fifty-three places 
where hope is referred to in the divine 
Word, it has special relation to future bless- 
ings which are to crown the Christian be- 
liever at the appearing of Jesus Christ. A 
few of these we might examine: 

1. IT IS A BLESSED HOPE. 

' 'Looking for the blessed hope and ap- 
pearing of the glory of our great God and 
Saviour Jesus Christ." 

A blessed hope means a happy one. The 
word refers to inward enjoyment apart 
from external environment. The expecta- 
tions implied in such a hope make all pres- 
ent circumstances of trial or depression 
* 'not worthy to be compared with the glory 
which shall be revealed to us-ward. For 



The Blessed Hope. 85 

the earnest expectation of the creation 
waiteth for the manifestations of the sons 
of God." 

2. IT IS A PURIFYING HOPE. 

"And every man that hath this hope in 
him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 

As linen bleaches under the sun, the light 
of this hope cleanses the life from world- 
stains. It loosens the grasp from the things 
of earth. 

The man who has a magnificent mansion 
in some beautiful locality, and is only tar- 
rying in a city hotel for a few days till he 
can journey home, will not care to spend 
his time and money in elaborately decorat- 
ing his temporary lodging in a strange city. 
If he purchases bric-a-brac or pictures, the 
thought in his mind is, "I will take them 
home." So the Christian, who reckons 
himself a "pilgrim and a stranger" here, 
will have little heart to spend energies on 
things pertaining merely to the earthly. 
His city and his home lie beyond. His 



86 The Blessed Hope. 

great concern will be to "lay up treasures 
in heaven." 



3. IT IS A PACIFYING HOPE. 

"Therefore judge nothing before the 
time, until the Lord come, who will both 
bring to light the hidden things of dark- 
ness, and will make manifest the counsels 
of the hearts; and then shall every man 
have praise of God." "Be patient, there- 
fore, brethren, unto the coming of the 
Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth 
for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath 
long patience for it, until he receive the 
early and the latter rain. Be ye also pa- 
tient; stablish your hearts; for the coming 
of the Lord draweth nigh." 

In the power of this hope all questions of 
provocation can be patiently laid aside for 
the Lord to settle on His arrival. The 
child of God who is pervaded with this 
hope will be willing to waive all rights of 
self- vindication, knowing that his "labor of 



The Blessed Hope. 87 

love and patience of hope" will not go unre- 
warded. 



4. IT IS A COMPORTING HOPE. 

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, 
brethren, concerning them which are asleep, 
that ye sorrow not even as others which have 
no hope." 

The lustre of this hope shines most con- 
spicuously in the consolation it brings to 
those who are called to part with their 
loved ones by death. The unbelieving bury 
their dead without any certain or definite 
expectation of reunion. For in no human 
scheme of philosophy is the truth of a 
resurrection even hinted at. But the Scrip- 
tures definitely promise this. ' 'For if we 
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even 
them also which sleep in Jesus will God 
bring with Him." The Apostle Paul, after 
explaining all this to the Thessalonian 
Christians, and showing them the immense 
advantage they had over the heathen who 



88 The Blessed Hope. 

knew nothing about the advent in majesty 
of Jesus Christ, or of the resurrection, 
adds finally, "Wherefore comfort one an- 
other with these words." 

5. IT IS A GLORIOUS HOPE. 

' 'For our citizenship is in heaven; from 
whence also we wait for a Saviour, the 
Lord Jesus Christ; who shall fashion anew 
the body of our humiliation that it may be 
conformed to the body of His glory accord- 
ing to the working whereby He is able even 
to subject all things unto Himself." "By 
faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered 
up Isaac; and he that received the prom- 
ises offered up his only begotten son, of 
whom it was said, that in Isaac shall thy 
seed be called; accounting that God was 
able to raise him up, even from the dead; 
from whence also he received him in a fig- 
ure. . . . Women receive their dead 
raised to life again; and others were tor- 
tured, not accepting deliverance; that they 
might obtain a better resurrection." 

Ltr£C-i 



The Blessed Hope. 89 

This hope would be meaningless apart 
from the locality and the circumstances 
where it anchors itself. It leaps over time 
and space to the period when Jesus Christ 
shall Himself be glorified as King of kings 
according to the eternal purpose of the 
Father. 

PROMISES. 

This blessed hope embraces several 
promised glories: 

1. We shall be with Christ. Not as in 
death, when we are said to be "unclothed" 
and "waiting to be clothed upon with our 
house from heaven." In an actual sense 
we shall "see Him as He is," and be our- 
selves like Him, personally and morally. 

2. We shall be beyond sinning. Now we 
groan for deliverance. Pain and the curse 
encompass us. The consummation of that 
hope will bring full redemption to the 
body. 

3. We shall know as we are known. ' 'Now 
we see through a glass darkly; but then 



90 The Blessed Hope. 

face to face; now I know in part; but then 
shall I know even as also I am known. " 

What joy to have the hope of one day be- 
ing masters of all knowledge; to under- 
stand the mysteries of science, the marvels 
of astronomy, the secrets of nature, and 
the profound depths of the soul! 

WHAT SHOULD BE OUR PRESENT ATTI- 
TUDE? 

We ought to be looking for the blessed 
crisis. That is, expecting it with desire. 
We should be praying for it and thereby 
seek to hasten it. We should anticipate its 
consummation by our endeavor of personal 
faithfulness toward all that it involves. 
We ought to be loving it. If we love the 
seed of Abraham, if we love the burdened 
brute creation, if we love the heathen Gen- 
tile nations who know nothing of a Saviour, 
we shall joyfully welcome this hope, for 
their sakes also. For it is the hope that 
shall bring to the Jew his Messiah; to the 
creature his emancipation from man's ex- 



The Blessed Hope. 91 

acting dominion; to mute nature her free- 
dom from thorns and thistles; to the heathen 
idolater a knowledge of the true and living 
God; and to the waiting Bride the personal 
presence of the heavenly Bridegroom. Yea, 
it will bring to Jesus His Kingdom, Crown 
and Throne. 



THE BLESSED HOPE. 

By REV. L. L. PICKETT. 
Price $1.25. 

Price $1.25. 

the Stt c^S'^te astr r ing adorn 

mg the Lord's return in glory? P information concern- 

Words of Commendation 

%^^^IZ^^ U '«*™ » »T sou.,' 
God." "Best book on th^hi^l 7 ! „ A key to the Word °* 

Order a n S ow S ; f eVangellStS ' •**» and other, spe^ak hi^ of it. 

PICKETT PUBLISHING CO., 

_____ LOUISVILLE, KY. 



The Blessed Hope Contains 

'• 370 comfn G g E o?ctL t t formati0n ' "^^^ and ™*V « to the 
8 - M -t?dl^t7olVst P e t n? ° n the ™ «**■» con- 

J' it 11 SU 1 ? TO 72 questions on this ■*** 

™\s™Z orTison ' } - B ■ <4-p^£;£ • s,mpson ' 

oLIcfrS^oTrs^ ^"^ * »"" "-■*»* and 
7.' JS^roS" T $I,2S ; Achea P e -^onaton. y$ ,oo. 

PICKETT PUBLISHING CO., 

LOUISVILLE, KY. 



? "GEMS." "GEMS." | 

I GEMS^=- | 

$ By L. L. PICKETT, G. E. KERSEY and O. B. CULPEPPER. $ 

% This is a singing age. There are many choice new books on 4? 

<e the market. We have had an immense sale of ' W 

| "Tears and Triumphs." j 

* (MORE THAN 300,000.) \ 

A We still publish it, and expect to sell thousands yet. But we | 

£ set about to beat it and take the lead of the field. Our new book | 

J is the result, after two years of careful, conscientious and < 

O painstaking work. The rule adopted was : i 

| LET EVERY SONG BE A REAL GEM. 3 

ft The authors and publishers believe this ideal has been very 

k nearly attained. A number of the best authors are drawn on, 

Y such as Sweney, Kirkpatrick, Gilmour, Weeden, Kieffer, Gabriel, 
R Hoffman. Lowry, Hugg, Fillmore, O'Kane, etc. Among the songs 
K may be named such beauties as, "It Must be Told," "No, Not 

Y One," "I Surrender All," "Living in the Sunshine," "O the Glory," 
X "Rest at the Savior's Side," etc. We must refer the reader to the 
A book, in which we guarantee satisfaction. Try the Nos. we will 
§ indicate, and if not satisfied, return the book and get your money 
jBt back. It will contain 291 songs, and is very cheap. 

£ Round Notes or Shapes, always state Choice. 

X NOT 

k PPTCFS PBEPAID PREPAID PREPAID 

jHt I-H1V-HO SINGLE. DOZE*. PER 100. 

4 BOARDS 30cents. $3.40 $25.00 

"1 MUSLIN 25cents. 2.80 20.00 

* WORDS ONLY.. 15 cents. 1.50 10.00 

| FICKETT PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

* LOUISVILLE, KY. 

k a 



BOOKS by REV. B. CARRADINE, 

THE FLAMING EVANGELIST* 



These Books contain Gospel Marrow, and 
are Highly Commended. 



A Journey to Palestine. — Cloth. Nearly 500 pages ; eighteen 
illustrations. Two bishops have pronounced upon its su- 
periority as a volume of travels. So has the press at large. 
Price, $1.50. 

Sanctiffication. — 227 pages, devoted to the explanation of the 
doctrine and experience of sanctification. Price, 80 cents. 

The Second Blessing in Symbol. — A book of over 300 
pages. Shows that sanctification as a second work is taught 
in the symbols of the Bible. Very rich and racy. One of his 
best. Price, $1.00. A smaller edition, 80 cents. 

The Better Way.— Nearly 200 pages. It proves a second work 
of grace, and shows there is a better life than the average 
Christian lives. Price, 75 cents. 

The Old Man. — A neat book of nearly 300 pages. It is devoted 

to the study of inbred sin in Christians, and is the only ex. 

haustive treatise on the subject in religious literature. Price, 

$1.00. 
The Bottle. — An illustrated lecture on intemperance. Over 60 

pages. Price : Cloth, 40 cents ; Paper, 20 cents. 

Secret Societies: — A sermon delivered in St. Louis before two 
thousand people against the Fraternity and Lodge System. 
Pamphlet. Price, 5 cents. 

Pastoral Sketches. — A literary work filled with life pictures 
and reminiscenses of a preacher. The reader laughs and cries 
by turns. Price, $1.00. 

The Sanctified Life. — It meets a generally felt want in the 
spiritual life. Shows how the blessing is obtained, how it is 
lost, how it can be recovered, and how it can be kept and 
never lost. Price, $1.00. 

Revival Sermons. — This volume is filled with a number of the 
strongest and most unctuous sermons of the author. Price, 
$1.00. 

FOR SALE BY 

PICKETT PUBLISHING CO., 

LOUISVILLE, KY. 



BOOKS 



GEORGE D. WATSON. 



White Robes, 50 cts. 

Presenting very clear definitions of the difference between 
pardon and purity, cleansing and growth, partial and perfect 
love. 

Holiness Manual, 25 cts. 

Containing twenty-five Bible- readings, with proof texts 
carefully setting forth the various stages of grace. Specially 
helpful for young converts. 

Coals of Fire, 50 cts. 

Containing luminous expositions from the Old Testament 
on the deep things of Christian experience, including an an- 
alysis of the experiences of Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, etc. A re- 
ligious classic for advanced believers. 

Love Abounding, $1.00 

Containing Sermons and Bible expositions stenographically 
reported as delivered. 

Secret of Spiritual Power, 50 cts. 

This book deals particularly with the operation of the Holy 
Spirit on the mental and moral faculties of the soul. 

Soul Food, 50 cts. 

Treating of spiritual nourishment and the life ofpure faith 
as developed in language and affection and suffering and 
prayer and special providence. A book that touches the 
heart of the Christian in its inner depths. 

Pure Gold, 50 cts. 

This book treats of the rich golden traits that constitute a 
real Bible character. It is heart searching and soul-stirring. 

Fruits of Canaan, 10 cts. 

Contains chapters on personal experience and how to grow 

in grace. 

Beauty for Ashes, 10 cts. 



Treating of how persons lose their Christian experience and 
how the ashes of a backslidden heart can be restored to beauty 
by the Holy Ghost. 

Types of the Holy Spirit, 10 cts* 

A carefully written book on the different Scripture em- 
blems of the Holy Spirit and how we may have His indwelling 
and communion. 

Steps to the Throne, 60 cts. 



22 1903 



5*^ 



